Winter steelheading?

[Knuguy]

I understand that some people fish the rivers in winter but I'm puzzled how it's done. It seems that the only areas that are open are those with fast current but those areas are supposedly not very good when the water is cold. Also, how to land if you do catch. It's unsafe to stand right on the edge of the ice but how do you land one without doing it?

 

[fishermandan420]

The water freezes up to the seam. Run your float along the edge of the ice shelves. Fought fish below my feet a few times.
As for landing that's tricky. Smash a landing spot in the tailout or hail Mary up the shelf. If you can't get it up just break your line who care you won. Unless your a guy that takes 27 pics of every fish you'll be fine. It's usually low numbers so you leave a small hook in a couple fish as you're probably not having a 25 fish day

 

[tossing iron]

Lol. Exactly . You can lug a net with you if you want. But like swing said you've won . Quick snip or sometimes quick snap and on to the next one.

 

[rich_ace_G]

If you know a spot during the fall....try to go back to the same spot. if there is small open water...drift there. if you stay long enough...ice melts below you. At the moment there is a lot of open water left compared to last year where almost the entire stretch of every small river has frozen over. Stay close to shallow water. Sometimes you will never know how fast the current underneath...I like winter steeleheading. It has weed out the "bad apples" and the crowd is thin.

 

[Slickrick]

Try not to take them out of the water on really cold days. Their gills and eyes can freeze up

 

[myspacedave]

Glad to see a fresh post about this topic... So what's the deal with the piers this time of year? Is that a waste of time? Am I just wishful thinking that trout could hold in warmer water below a frozen river?

 

[rich_ace_G]

Last year in W harbour...all I've been catching were pike & perch...not that i'm complaining.

 

[Fishheads]

first thing that has to be said... if you don't feel safe doing what you're doing, then don't do it.

When the rivers freeze up to the seam, thats ideal. The fish sit under the ice shelf, just out of the fast(er) water. run your float as close to the shelf as you can. Thats usually your best bet.

As for landing... I always hope the fish will jump and you can strong arm the jump onto the ice and slide it across to you. Usually doesn't happen. IF you know the area and know you're on ice where the river isn't deep, you can stomp out a landing strip usually. If you can't do either of these, or have a long net... you're SOL.

Also, I want to echo that in negative temps the gills and eyes freeze up quick... best to try to keep em wet, and quick release.

 

[myspacedave]

Chrome, you were in a boat then?